


please stay

by yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway



Category: In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rain, Schmoop, Storms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:46:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24486085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway/pseuds/yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway
Summary: there's a case of seasonal depression when summer storms come into the case. luckily, benny's got a friend who won't let him down.
Relationships: Benny/Usnavi (In the Heights)
Kudos: 24





	please stay

**Author's Note:**

> this is!! the 50th bensnavi fic down the tag!! we love to see it.
> 
> id read this in a context of the in the heights workshop eather than the broadway version, but you can go without it. just wanted an excuse to write usnavi being a good friend 🥰

Benny’s having a bad day. 

Correction - he’s had a bad day. He’s on the old couch, head aching and pounding as the TV reruns some of a sitcom he’s seen before. There’s no current motivation to turn it off, and the kitchen lights are blaring so brightly to him that he’d rather curl up on this couch, shut his eyes, and hope for the best. It’s been so long since he’s had a bad day. What kind of day falls under this category, he doesn’t know, but he knows it’s a bad day. Yesterday was moderately okay, pretty normal. He hasn’t even been to the club or out with any girls for an okay amount of time, and he knows that’s not what he wants right now. 

So. He’s having a bad day. 

The power goes out. That wasn’t expected. A few seconds after, there’s a clap of thunder that jolts him from his curled up position on the edge of the couch, his throw pillow ending up on the floor. He searches for the window, only for his head to begin pounding. There’s the pitter patter noise on the roof that tells him it’s pouring right now - of course it is. The landlord will get the generator up and running in a bit, so he flops back down, grateful for the lights going out.  _ Then he forgets that his pillow is on the floor, and leans over to grab it. And then he falls down, hitting his head on the rim of the coffee table as he blindly grabs for his pillow. Fuck, where is his pillow? _

Scratch the empty thoughts. Benny clutches the solid figure, heart hurting and head aching. He’s being melodramatic, thinking he’s going to die, but there’s an empty space in his heart. The past few days have felt so empty, so similar. The same motions of getting up, going to work, sleeping, eating whatever he can in between. Where’s the sun been these past few days?

There’s someone knocking at the door. “Benny?” they call, jamming their key in his doorknob. “Benny, can I come in?”

He rolls over, trying to form some semblance of structure. “Who is it?”

It’s too late. Usnavi’s inside, frantically shutting his umbrella and discarding his raincoat on the rack next to Benny’s front door. He spots Benny across the room, immediately dropping everything to sit next to him, worried look and all. Something in him sparks. 

“Where have you been?” Usnavi asks, grabbing him by the shoulders. “You’ve been ignoring all my texts about the power, and you haven’t asked me to hang out, and now it’s raining and…”

“You’re rambling,” Benny tells him. And then he laughs, because it’s so fun to laugh. And Usnavi is so goddamn refreshing to hear. 

“Benjamin,” he whispers. “What’s been happening? Speak to me.”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Benny rejects. “I’m free! This is my house!”

“Are you going mad?”   
“Are you?”

“Well I’m worried! What happened?”

“Nothing happened, Usnavi, you’re just being a-”

“Mother hen. Benny, I’m the only one looking out for you.”

They’re sitting there, and then the power comes back. Benny’s only realizing now, that he can see everything. He can register the look on his best friend’s face - worried, wet, and nervous. God, his face is so close. 

“I,” Usnavi begins, before he takes it back. He stands up, turning off the kitchen lights and coming back to pick up Benny. It’s more of him dragging him across the room, all the way to his bed so that he can lay down in the dark. 

Usnavi scoots in next to him. “Get some sleep Benny,” he tells him, tugging him closer in a side hug. “I’ll be here.”   
Benny sniffles. “Why are you doing this?”

“Whaddaya mean?”

“Ever since my father left,” Benny sobs out all of a sudden, and Usnavi reaches out on instinct to hold him. Benny flinches away, and Usnavi sits himself up so he can watch Benny. 

“Since my father left, you’ve been helping me,” he tells him. “Why are you still here?”

He sniffs furiously as to keep some form of vestige left, but Usnavi’s watching him with a look on his face. 

“Benny,” Usnavi begins. “Do you feel like… you don’t deserve this?”

“What have I done?”

“Hey, you’d do the same for me. You watch out for the people you love! Watching out for you isn’t a job for me-”

“But it is for everyone!”   
“Well not everyone loves you as much as I do!”

That seems to shut both of them up. Usnavi watches in horror at his comment, and Benny’s staring. Just staring, because someone loves him. It’s been so long since he’s heard the words “I love you,” not even from the girls at the club. His heart swells at the words. 

“You really do, huh?”

“Yeah,” Usnavi confesses. “I hope that doesn’t do anything. 

"Do anything?"

"Yeah. I know you like girls and all and I still wanna be friends and, I-"

Usnavi tastes like beer and sweat. His lips are soft, and his skin's so strangely gentle compared to the rough callouses on his hands. Both of them ease down onto the pillow as Benny kisses him, holding each other in the position. Basking in the moment as they breathe in each other's air. 

"Fuck," Benny starts. "We should do that again."

"We should sleep," Usnavi retorts, and Benny pouts at him. He pecks Benny on the lips, which seems to comply with him as he discards his tanktop. 

"Sweet dreams," he tells Benny, warmly tucking Benny's head underneath his chin to warm up his freezing cold body. "I'll see you in the morning. 

There's a gentle domesticity in watching Usnavi's chest rise and fall as he snores, but Benny stores the thought for tommorow when they'll talk about this, falling asleep with a kiss to his collarbone. 

  
  



End file.
